3. Sparkle

THREE

SPARKLE

This is boring!

As an elf, I was used to being busy all day, rarely sitting down, always on the go with either work, taking naps, or playing tricks. While I was good at my job, I was known as a prankster, and I wore the title with pride.

I ran my mind over the prank that got me thrown out of Christmas Village and the North Pole. Maybe I'd gone too far. I'd made the newbie reindeer shifters upset, thinking they were going to lose their jobs. It was a tad mean, and if I could say sorry directly to them, I would.

Neither Dasher nor Santa #1 accepted my apology.

Maybe I should send a card. How I would do that, I wasn't certain, but I had time. Maybe my entire life. What a mess I'd made of things.

I sighed. I'd made a huge boo-boo, been kicked out of my job, home, and the North Pole, left my friends behind, and now I was stuck in this garden, covered in snow, and wishing I could sit by a fire and enjoy a hot cup of cocoa.

Instead, the kid next door has been throwing balls at my head! But worse than that, when he called his folks to say he'd discovered a little man, they peered at me and labeled me a gnome.

Elves and gnomes were nothing alike. I'd have to tell my gnome friend, Ridnor, about the mistake. But I was hit with a wave of disappointment. I'd been fired, and I was a figurine, destined to stand in someone's garden so the kid next door could practice his pitching skills.

Tears welled up inside me, but I couldn't cry. I was a statue. I'd never laugh, eat, play, or cry again.

A door opened and a scent drifted out. Dog! In this weather the dog wouldn't be playing or sniffing. Would they? More like peeing. Oh no. No, no, no. No peeing on me. Wishing I could close my eyes, I stared straight ahead—it was the only direction I could see—as a dog approached and squatted. She was tiny. She. The dog was a she, so there was no raising of her leg.

Santa fired me, the universe turned me into a statue, but someone was looking out for me. The dog was a she!

"Just don't get too close," I yelled, but I made no sound, and the words reverberated in my head, giving me a headache. Ouch!

Ewww, yellow snow, and so close. But I'd survived the doggy visit. Now, shoo, back inside you go . How many times a day did a dog pee? I had no idea but maybe the pooch had a backyard. Why pee near me? A pair of legs came into view.

"He's cute. Maybe we can donate him to a charity. I have no use for a garden gnome." A hand removed snow from my head.

I pondered my life; being stuck in a garden or standing on the shelf of a second-hand store, wondering about my fate. If someone bought me, they might… they might… what was that?

My thoughts twisted into a knot, my belly tightening as a scent flooded over me. I was a figurine, a lifeless statue, but my senses were intact. And I wanted that scent. I needed to smother myself in it, curl up and sleep with it wrapped around me. My nostrils swelled as the aroma flooded them, and my body tingled.

The sky vibrated as a menacing rumble boomed. Oh no. I cowered, wondering what was next. Was I going home? Santa or whoever had made me a porcelain version of myself had forgiven me? I'm going home, but I want to take that scent with me .

Everything spun around. I was going to be sick, but I couldn't ‘cause I was stiff and unbending. A force pushed me forward, and I tumbled head first into the snow. Yuck! A mouthful of the stuff, but it wasn't the yellow stuff. Thank gods.

I brushed myself off and stood up. Wait! I was me. Not unbending, porcelain me, but elf me. I wiggled my feet and head, and my bell tinkled. What a joyous sound.

But while I could move my body, I was still a prisoner. Of that scent. It wrapped itself around me like a boa constrictor. It squeezed the air out of me worse than when I'd been a statue.

Opening my mouth to speak, I had no voice. Please tell me I didn't leave it behind. Trying again, I squeaked out, "I'm an elf, not a gnome."

I inhaled, taking in the first deep breath of icy air. Despite shivering and being bombarded by snowflakes, the scent, that scent, belonged to this guy. Taking more air into my lungs, I identified him as a shifter. I'd been around enough reindeer shifters in Christmas Village to label him definitely as a shifter. Wolf maybe.

"Hi, Dan."

The family next door were headed to their car, but they peered through the filter of snow and paused. The guy laughed while the kid leaned on the fence, his hooded jacket, lined with fake fur, almost covering his face.

"Did someone prank you?" the man asked

"It'll be hard thinking of something to top that," the woman added.

They waved and bundled themselves into the car.

Dan—apparently that was the shifter's name—was unmoving, and I suspected he'd been turned into a figurine. Maybe I could live in his house while I figured out the next phase of my life.

"Sushi." He picked up the dog who was sniffing my feet.

It was an odd way to introduce himself, but okay. I enjoyed raw fish.

"I'd love some, thanks. But can we get out of this weather?"

"What?" His face twisted as he clutched the dog to his chest.

"Sushi. Eat. Inside."

The dog howled, and Dan backed away from me."No."

No one had ever been scared of me in Christmas Village. I proudly held up my sparkly wristband. "Name's Sparkle, but I'm not feeling very sparkly right now. It's cold."

First, he was offering to feed me, and then he refused. Had he had a bump on the head?

"Sparkle. And you say you're an elf?"

Gods, did we have to have this conversation outside?

I nodded, my teeth chattering. But he bellowed, a belly laugh rumbling up from his tummy, and he slapped his thigh.

"Hilarious. I don't know how you did that. Is this an early Christmas present?" He peered around before studying me. "Aren't you supposed to dance or remove your clothes?"

"You want me to get undressed? It's a little chilly."

The dog whimpered. She and I were on the same wavelength, but the shifter seemed determined to have this conversation in a snowstorm. Wolves were better suited to winter than elves, maybe.

"Isn't this what you signed up for?"

"I didn't sign up for anything. Santa sent me." My eyes swam with tears, the same tears that would freeze if I let them trail down my cheeks. "And I'm freezing my butt off."

"I suspect you got the timing wrong and were supposed to do this Christmas Eve."

Huh? That was like eleven and a half months from now.

"Is someone collecting you?"

I shook my head. I was alone in the world. Dan jerked his head toward the house. "Come on. You can call your company inside."

I no longer had a company or friends or a home, but I welcomed the invitation. Stamping my feet on the mat, I welcomed the blast of warm air that greeted us. With the door closed, the howling wind was muffled, and I removed my pointed shoes.

The living area was minimally furnished. Being an elf, I loved sparkles, frills, and flounces, so while it wasn't my style, it was welcoming enough, but there was a bedraggled Christmas tree in the corner with wispy bits of tinsel flung over its fake branches.

"You haven't taken your tree down."

He narrowed his eyes and swiveled his gaze to the tree. "I only put it up two days ago."

Oh, there were different cultures around the world where people celebrated major festivals at different times. I'd made a mistake.

Dan put the dog down, and she sniffed my feet and legs before settling herself in her bed near the sofa.

Now that we were inside I was able to separate the aromas without interference from whatever fragrances the wind sent. There was the dog and there was the guy. His scent stuffed my nose, and it pushed out the doggy aroma.

I recognized it for what it was; a message. Not an instruction but an order, and it was telling me this shifter was my mate. Sure, elves and shifters could mate, but maybe my sense of smell had been warped or damaged after the wackadoodle journey I'd been on.

But shifters who met their mate knew who they were instantly. It was like a bolt of lightning. I'd witnessed it many times at Christmas Village. But Dan's wary expression and his folded arms didn't shout, "You're my mate!"

Perhaps if I shook him, the recognition might flood his body and we'd kiss and mark one another.

"Did you want to use the phone?" He handed me his mobile and a blanket that had been tossed over the sofa.

"I wouldn't know who to call." Not only had I been banished, but now my mate didn't recognize me. I'd been cursed. Maybe that legend wasn't just a made-up story.

"I'd reconsider working for those people if they don't have a contact number." He strolled into the kitchen. "But you're hungry."

Dan was obsessed with my non-existent workplace.

"Mmmm. You mentioned sushi." The dog tore over to me and licked my feet. "Salmon sushi." The dog howled. Odd. "Tuna sushi?" Another howl. Maybe Dan taught her to do that. "Shrimp sushi." More howling.

"Will you stop that?" Dan put his hands on his hips and scowled. "My dog responds to her name."

Oh, his dog was named after food. Cute. "Sorry."

"Grilled cheese sandwiches okay?"

"Thanks." I stood awkwardly, my head bobbing and the bell on my hat tingling. My body was thawing, but the frozen bits were replaced by lust. More than food, I wanted Dan. In my mouth and my hole. Oh yeah, I wanted him everywhere.

But this guy was just pottering around the kitchen grating cheese.

"Did they tell you to wear those clothes?"

Why would he think that? Elves dressed like this in Christmas Village. Oh, but humans and shifters alike, other than reindeer shifters, didn't know the place existed.

"Nope. I'm just your regular Chris… I mean cheery elf." Even though I'd been tossed out of Christmas Village, I couldn't reveal the secret.

But how did I explain who I was, where I came from, and how I got here, especially when I didn't have an answer for the last question myself.